11 Thrilling Three-Wheeled Kit Cars

The first automobiles started out with three wheels: Nicolas Cugnot's 1770 Steam Dray rolled on three, as did Karl Benz's 1886 Patented Motorwagen. In recent years we've seen a lot of big carmakers produce three-wheeled concepts, including Peugeot, Mercedes-Benz, GM, BMW, and Volkswagen. But in Britain there are a host of smaller and largely unsung three-wheeler builders who continue to make well-engineered trikes in kit or turnkey form for the enthusiast market. We've assembled (almost) all of them for a track day at Blyton Park near Gainsborough in England.

Reengineered from Peter Larsen's Liberty Ace, Morgan's Three Wheeler has been an astounding hit with orders running far ahead of production. The barrel-bodied design isn't as pretty as the prewar Aero models, but it's distinctive, and the cockpit is roomy. The instruments and switchgear are brilliant: In fact, the starter is the bomb release button from a Eurofighter. The charismatic S&S engine makes the Morgan genuinely fast and torquey, and the Mazda 'box engages smartly. The driving position is quite upright, with the huge wheel mounted high. It feels heavy—and at almost half a ton, it is—but the handling is predictable.

Stuart Mills has designed a number of these exoskeleton machines for three and four-wheels. This TR1, with vestigial coachwork and Yamaha YZF-R1 motorcycle engine and driveline, is the ultimate trike. It looks like a race car engineering catalog thrown at a farm gate, but it is comfortable even if the steering wheel is a bit of a stretch. Using the Yamaha swinging arm on a long wheelbase lends much-needed stability and safety, but this is a machine not for the faint of heart. We saw almost 120 mph at Blyton and were thankful for the excellent brakes and handling.